IT Cloud Storage Security Starts with Your Own Staff

Could it be true that the greatest threat to your company is not outside hackers, but your own staff?

Ipswitch File Transfer, a data monitoring software company, asked 555 IT professionals across the globe about their file sharing habits. What they found is that while 76% of IT professionals say it is important to securely transfer files, 61% are unsecure file-sharing clouds. They also found that 32% of IT professionals don’t have a file transfer policy in place – 25% plan to establish one and another 25% said their company has an inconsistent file transfer policy.

It seems as though many professionals aren’t taking the time to do discovery and inventory to make sure things are in order so that employees are adhering to the policies.

Paul Castiglione is the senior product marketing manager of IPswtich. He stated that a lot of cloud file sharing services are adding security features to cover for bad behavior, which is increasingly necessary. In companies with data loss, one-third of incidents are due to human error, one-third to process and network errors, and one-third to malicious activity.

Castiglione is advocating for the implementation of automation to reduce human error. Automation services should ensure that there is visibility to the file level, not just the folder level. The important part is to know who has access to the files down to the file level and to make sure there is access control. Automation will help employees with efficiency, and prevent them from sending files to the wrong servers.

Cloud storage providers have a lot of room for improvement. File sharing vendors usually offer simple to use consumer collaboration tools, but these don’t necessarily provide protection and file access. Cloud storage providers do not get involved in data management, so once it gets to the storage repository, it just sits there. Storage management, including duplication and removal of old data is up to you and your employees to be responsible for.

The ratio of people to devices is very high, if all people are supporting production, no one is educating their people on what to do and how to do it. Be sure to read your contract carefully! See what your cloud storage providers will hold themselves responsible for and what to automate for your employees to reduce data loss and error.